Customer engagement

Digital marketing trend for 2017: Permission Marketing

When it comes to marketing in 2017, one early trend is becoming clear: if you want attention, you’re going to have to earn it. That’s particularly true in the digital world, where more and more people are hanging out and advertisements are increasingly getting ignored. Banner ad click-through rates continue to decline, your organic reach... Read More

How long is a web surfer’s attention span?

  How long do you think you have to grab someone’s attention? In the fast-scrolling world of social media, it is not long, at all. What started out as the five second rule for websites has deteriorated even more for social media channels like Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, and more. It’s more like a case of ‘blink... Read More

4 ways to improve your CRM

No matter where you are in the business world—just starting, just catching your stride or a long-time veteran—you won’t get any further without loyal customers who trust you. To build up that foundation and to improve on it you need feedback from your customers, old and new. You need a viable Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategy—or a... Read More

How to mix business with social media

When you have a business web site and a social media presence to back it up—and we’re assuming you do—it can be difficult to know how best to use them effectively. There are plenty of rules, or formulas, for the mixture of marketing messages to mix in with your content. You’ve probably heard about the... Read More

How to humanize your brand

You’ll have more success if you treat your customers like friends, not dollars. It’s not enough to have a lot of friends or followers subscribe to your social media channels. The number may look comforting and you may be able to brag about it, but what you’re really looking for, as a business, is the quality of... Read More

How to create great visual content with great purpose

When you look into creating highly engaging content on social media, you’ll notice a recurring theme: graphic content has a better chance of being shared than non-visual content. We have long discussed the importance of creating and posting nice, clear visual content and there are several good reasons for that. The fact that it tends... Read More

How can Kanye help your brand?

When Kanye West announced he was $53 million in debt, social media took the ball and ran with it. There were plenty of memes, jokes across social media platforms, outrage and, we suppose, some sympathy somewhere. There were also a few places that used the trending topic to their advantage. Enter Pizza Hut, who responded... Read More

How to get more traffic to your blog

Maintaining a blog can be a beneficial thing for your business. It allows you to show your expertise, offer some free advice to your customers and, sometimes, have a little fun. As a marketing tool, it is often the cherry on top of your message—if you use it correctly, that is. It can show the... Read More

How to get started with Facebook Audience Optimization

Like the ruby slippers from Wizard of Oz, the key to increasing your Facebook engagement may have been with you all along. Or, in this case, recently added. Facebook has added a new feature, Audience Optimization, that will allow you to specify the audiences most likely to engage with each Facebook page post, based on... Read More

How to grow your Facebook organic reach

If you’re not getting the kind of engagement you’d like with your Facebook page, it’s possible that not many of your followers are seeing it. It’s more than possible, in fact—it’s probable. The reach of your Facebook page has most likely been decreasing no matter what you do. That’s by design. As Facebook relies more... Read More

How to improve social media engagement for your auto shop

If your content is not getting the kind of engagement you’d like, you’re not alone. No matter how well you plan out your marketing efforts, you might not get the kind of interaction with your audience you’re hoping for, making it difficult to tell how effective your social marketing is. It doesn’t mean you should... Read More

Websites and social media: How to find the right blend

Online marketing and internet searches mean there are more ways for you to promote your business and get noticed than ever before. Obviously, the more different channels you use, the more effective you will be in finding and attracting new customers and engaging with and keeping your existing ones. Studies have shown that more than... Read More

How to check out your competitors’ social media marketing plans

It’s important to pay attention to your competitors, both their brick-and-mortar locations and their social media and web spaces. Not only do you want to differentiate yourself from them, but you also want to learn what works for them—and what doesn’t. Knowing each will help you save money and be more successful in the long... Read More

How to maximize twitter for your auto shop

Twitter can be an effective tool to leverage your other social media efforts, but it’s important to use it to its highest potential. Fortunately, that’s not as hard as it may seem. As with other social media platforms, it starts with how you describe yourself and who you interact with. Optimize your profile Focus on... Read More

Make the news work for your auto shop

Facebook isn’t just a place for social interaction any more. It’s becoming more and more a place where people get their news and share newsworthy events. A recent study out of the Pew Research Center indicates that increasing numbers of Facebook users visit the site to get news, as well as to catch up with... Read More

How to use social media to promote your auto shop: a refresher course

By now you know that using social media for business purposes isn’t all fun and games. It takes a little bit of effort to convert your social media presence into sales at your auto shop, but don’t worry: you are not alone. Social selling is as common a challenge in the auto repair industry as... Read More

Mistakes to avoid with your auto shop’s website

Your website is the online anchor of your business and it may be the first thing your customers or potential customers see. With all the free tools out there, it’s relatively easy to design your own, but it’s also relatively easy to make some mistakes along the way. Here are a few common errors to... Read More

What to include in your auto shop blog

Maintaining a blog is one of the best things you can do for your business. Blogs are easy to create and maintain and relatively inexpensive—with sites like WordPress or Blogger, you can get started for free—and they will help you reach new customers through improved search engine rankings and general word of mouth. The concept... Read More

How auto shops use Twitter (and how you can do it better)

There are several ways you can use Twitter to attract and keep customers, improve your bottom line and make your other social media feeds and advertising dollars work more efficiently for you. You certainly don’t want to use Twitter as a base for your social media advertising or presence—you need your own website, Facebook page,... Read More

Six customer retention strategies

Ben Franklin once said: A penny saved is a penny earned. The same applies to customer: keeping them is just like earning them. You know how important customer retention is, but here are a few things to consider: According to the Harvard Business School, increasing customer retention rates by five percent increases profits by 25... Read More